Optimal way to pin engineering blueprints after unlocking and ranking up all engineers

[peterhudson]

After a lot of grinding I've finally unlocked and ranked up all the engineers. After unlocking the engineers in Colonia, I started thinking about the optimal way to pin blueprints. I'm mostly a PvE and exploration player, so if you're PvP this might not be the best arrangement, but for my fleet and module needs, this pretty much means I'll be able to remote craft the most common modules that I use in the way that I most often use them. Of course I'm the kind of grindy minimax player who'd also go and visit the engineers to make sure I got the special effects too. But this configuration lets me outfit a new ship and get it pretty well optimized without so much as leaving the hangar. Here's my list:

Engineer	Blueprint	Alternative
Elvira Martuuk	FSD - Long Range	Swap with Felicity for FSD Long Range and pin Shields - Enhanced Low Power with Elvira
The Dweller	Power Distributor - Charge Enhanced	Any G5 Power Distributor
Liz Ryder	Torpedo - Sturdy
Tod "The Blaster" McQuinn	Multicannon - Overcharged
Felicity Farseer	Thrusters - Clean (G3)	Swap with Elvira for FSD Long Range and pin Shields - Enhanced Low Power with Elvira
Mel Bardon	Shield Cell Bank - Specialized
Marsha Hicks	Collection Limpets - Light
Etienne Dorn	Life Support - Light
Petra Olmanova	Armour - Heavy
Juri Ishmaak	Sensors - Light
Zacariah Nemo	Frag Cannon - Double shot
Lei Cheung	Shield Generator - Reinforced	Shield Generator - Enhanced Low Power / Thermal Resistance
Hera Tani	Power Plant - Overcharged	Swap with Marco to get G5 Armoured and use Marco for G4 Overcharged.
Selene Jean	Hull Reinforcement - Heavy
Colonel Bris Dekker	FSD Interdictor - Expanded Capture Arc
Marco Qwent	Power Plant - Armoured (G4)	Swap with Hera to get G5 Armoured and use Marco for G4 Overcharged.
Ram Tah	Heat Sink - Light	Heat Sink - Ammo Capacity
Broo Tarquin	Burst Laser - Overcharged	Any G5 Beam / Burst / Pulse Laser
Didi Vatermann	Shield Booster - Resistance Augmented	Shield Booster - Heavy
The Sarge	Cannon - Overcharged	Cannon - High Capacity
Professor Palin	Thrusters - Dirty
Lori Jameson	Sensors - Long Range
Tina Fortune	KWS - Fast Scann
Bill Turner	Plasma Accelerator - Efficient

I made a Google Sheet to help me optimize, feel free to have a look and make a copy to optimize differently if you have a different play style and prefer different blueprints:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o9Ea_odGmhNNMjqB_TgCHsCtFucRa9i2_SzVeHVd_Dc/edit?usp=sharing

(This is a cross post from Reddit that I made earlier today... figured I might as well share here too).

 

[Stealthie]

Here's my list. No spreadsheet though, I'm afraid.

Elvira Maartuk: Probably a shield mod' of some sort.
The Dweller: Charge Enhanced PDist (G5).
Liz Ryder: Something related to missiles or torp's, I guess.
Tod McQuinn: Long Range MC (G5).
Felicity Farseer: Increased Range FSD (G5).
Mel Brandon: Resistance Augmented SB (G4). Hopefully this'll level-up to G5 eventually.
Marsha Hicks: Light Weight Collector (G5).
Etienne Dorn: Light Weight Life-Support (G5).
Petra Olmanova: Heavy Duty Armour (G5).
Juri Ishmaak: Expanded Capture DSS (G5).
Zac Nemo: Something related to Frag Cannons, I suppose.
Lei Chung: Something related to Shields - probably Reinforced (G5).
Hera Tani: Armoured PP (G5).
Selene Jean: Light Weight Armour (G5).
Bris Dekker: Something FSI related, I guess.
Marco Qwent: Overcharged PP (G4).
Ram Tah: Light Weight Point Defence (G5).
Broo Tarquin: Efficient Beam Lasers (G5).
Didi Vatermann: Heavy Duty SB (G5).
The Sarge: Who knows? Take your pick.
Prof Palin: Dirty Drive Thrusters (G5). Duh!
Lori Jameson: Light Weight Sensors (G5).
Tiana Fortune: Long Range Wake Scanner (G5).
Bill Turner: I dunno. Probably PAs.

For me, the philosophy was to get most of the stuff I need for most of my ship-builds.

I only ever fit either light-alloy hulls and then G5 HD them for exploration ships and trade-ships or I fit MGC/Reactive hulls and G5 LW them for multiroles or I G5 HD them for combat ships so it was important to get both Light Weight and Heavy Duty blueprints pinned.
I only ever build HD or RA SBs so I wanted both of those Blueprints pinned. If/when Mel Brandon levels up to G5, that'll be perfect.
I went with the G5 Armoured PP from Hera Tani 'cos that's more useful, more of the time, whereas I usually only overcharge a PP to G3 or G4 maximum so Qwent's fine for that.
Would have been nice to pin Thermal Resist and Reinforced Shield Blueprints but that'd mean using Mel Brandon for one of them which, in turn, would mean it isn't possible to build both HD and RA SBs.

In general, when I'm forced to choose I will bias my pinned blueprints toward ships that can't jump over ones that can.
For example, Lei Chung is the only guy who can G5 shields so I have to choose between pinning G5 Thermal Resist and G5 Reinforced shields.
I probably use G5 Thermal Resist shields more often but that's on multirole ships, which have a decent jump-range, so I pin Reinforced so I can mod' combat ships without having to hobble all the way to Laksak in a combat ship.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Mel Brandon: Resistance Augmented SB (G4). Hopefully this'll level-up to G5 eventually.

It got there a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Stealthie]

It got there a couple of weeks ago.

Heh, I wondered if it had.

First thing I did when I arrived in Colonia was unlock the engineers, back in February.
Was just checking my pinned blueprints, last night, before I left for the bubble and I did notice Mel Brandon's blueprint seemed to show five stages rather than four.

 

[Outrunner85]

Thanks for this, very helpful.

 

[zaikoji]

You guys have been putting in WORK.
Respect.

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5FqzeVRDAs


Seems a lot of people are trying to optimize.

 

[peterhudson]

In the time since I posted this (gosh over a year now)... I'd make the following changes:

1. I'd swap to have Hera be Armoured Power Plant G5, and Marco for Overcharged Power Plant G4 (since armoured is a great blueprint and I've been playing more PvP where it is essential).
2. I'd swap to Lightweight for the Torpedo blueprint for Liz, since I've been playing around with "stealth bomber" hull tank silent running torpedo builds where it's nice to have some extra speed due to light weight and torpedo integrity it's useful since torps are basically gone within the first few seconds of an engagement.
3. I swapped Tod's blueprint to be Long Range for Railguns. It's a minor thing, since for weapons it's important to get experimental effects, so you have to visit the engineer anyway... but it's nice sometimes to be able to go to an engineer, and work on a set of weapons, apply special effects, and then maybe later when you're not at the engineer anymore, finish up the engineering (if you're a completionist list me and have to have G5 100% on every module in your fleet).
4. I think I swapped Lei's blueprint to Thermal Resistance Shields. The reason is that I started using a lot more bi-weave shields and the thermal blueprint gives you nice balanced resistances which can be further enhanced with shield boosters that have resistance augmented engineering. But Thermal Resistance on shields also buffs the module's integrity which is great if you're doing PvP and you plan on your shield dropping at some point during the fight.